Winter clothing and educational materials for orphans in North Korea - Mission East

Mission Eastis a Danish international relief and development organisation, working in Eastern Europe and Asia. Our aim is to deliver relief aid, to create and support long-term development projects and to empower local aid organisations to carry on the work independently. Making no racial, religious or political distinction between those in need, we aim to assist the most vulnerable.

Winter clothing and educational materials for orphans in North Korea

November 2012

As part of our commitment to provide further support for 3 orphanages in Haeju City in southwest North Korea, Mission East visited in November to monitor the delivery and distribution of winter clothing and blankets in time before the cold winter weather sets in. The orphanage buildings are not well heated, and winter is a difficult period for these vulnerable children. We also provided some toys and educational materials to improve the psycho-social stimulation these children receive. During upcoming monitoring visits, we will check that the toys are present and in use. You can see photos of the children with their new clothing and materials in the photo story below.

We were pleased to find that the children were much livelier, energetic and playful than our last visits (in July and August). We were able to weigh and measure a representative sample of the total number of children, where we’ve observed the worst nutrition situation in the past. While the results were much better than what we found in the summer (we assume in part due to the arrival of the new harvest, as well as their consistent use of our nutritional supplement over the past 5 months), the figures are still very concerning, with 92 percent of the children suffering from chronic malnutrition and 10 percent from acute malnutrition. This is much worse than children in the general population in this area and the children continue to be extremely vulnerable to food shortages caused by failing harvests and disasters.

In response to the high needs that we observed during our visits to the 3 orphan homes in Haeju this summer (in July and August - as pictured above), Mission East decided to continue its support for these institutions in the form of some material items which were lacking (especially winter clothing and blankets), inputs to the psycho-social development of these children (through materials and training), and some further nutritional support. In November, we re-visited the children you see here from our July visit to monitor the delivery of winter clothing, blankets, toys and educational materials.

I would LOVE to help but this is a catch 22...Saving the children for what kind of life beyond what it already is...What happens to these kids when they are more grown??? Will they be homeless only to be starved again? Put in prison camps as slaves? I wish I could genuinely help them beyond what seems to be their unfortunate fate. smh